Okay, I recently did some penetration and terminal performance testing of some of my "hammer head" custom cast lead shotgun slugs I sell in my ReloadersAuction Store (Hot Link - click to visit). Mainly due to the fact that it was quick and handy at the time I used some big Douglas-Fir rounds as a testing medium. These were from dead standing dry timber that had been harvested for fire-wood and were destined for the chopping block and then the wood stove. They were about two foot diameter and about sixteen inches thick. The idea was use them for targets shooting at the end grain and them split them and measure the penetration and get a look at how well they tore up the wood (permanent wound channel).

Here is one of the test targets:






So after testing I split the log rounds and got some penetration depth measurements.

Here is the results of some factory Remington 3"-mag 1oz. 12ga. factory rifled slugger rounds at an advertised muzzle velocity of 1,600-fps. Penetration in this medium was a mere 4-5 inches and as you can plainly see from the photo they really didn't tear a good permanent wound channel but actually sort of tipped sideways and split the wood grain instead of tearing it up:






Here are the results of my 1-11/16oz. 12ga. hard alloy solids at 1,200fps. Penetration in this medium was a good 8-9 inches and as you can plainly see from the photo they really tore up the wood. Shredding themselves a nice clean permanent wound channel:






The foster, smooth bore compatible, version of the same slug weighing in at 1-3/8oz. did quite well also. Hared alloy castings fired at 1,350fps. penetrated a good 8 inches and soft alloy castings fired at a reduced velocity of about 1,200fps. still penetrated 7 inches. Once again both loads tore themselves a nice clean permanent wound channel. The photos below are in respective order – hard alloy test first and soft alloy test second:

very interesting, how far were you from the target when you shot them?

Testing was done at 30-yards measured distance. Would have tested at longer range but the place I went to test them which is a quick couple minutes drive from my house on state owned public forest land only allows that distance as a maximum to still be safe and have the hill side as a good back-stop due to the lay of the land:



Back up any further and then you’re shooting across the public access road, which would not be safe.

thats not bad at all, good test. are they sabots?

No, they are not sabot slugs they are full-bore diameter, 1-11/16oz solid version is intended for fully rifled slug gun barrels. The HB fosters version at a slightly reduced weight of 1-3/8oz. can be fired from smooth bores with minimal choke (sawed-off, cylinder, or improved cylinder) and rifled chokes as well. Same basic idea as the ammunition Dixie Slugs (hot link) sells only these are slugs as components for guys who want to "roll their own".

For those interested in "sabot slugs" I also sell both the Lee and Lyman wad-slugs. These are slugs that use a standard shot wad (Federal brand wads work best) as a sabot. Both can be used in either rifled or smooth barrel shotguns.